NO D

[Bests Golden Boots]

I think we have all seen the defensive liabilities for two years now.
The question is why hasn't it been fixed.

Aitken gets attacked here for his defence, but he has to defend inside either winger, who have obviously been coached to run in off thier wing. He's never quite sure what his winger is going to do and often gets caught in no mans land.

You could go through the tapes from last year and almost garentee that every game we lost was down to teams going around our wingers, they don't slide, they go up and in and inevitably miss and leave the opposition wingers a clean run to the line.

The two trials this year have exposed our defensive line speed as terrible.

I believe Dean Young is the defensive coach, but he seems to be incapable of accepting there are flaws in his game plans and refuses to change them.......which will make him the perfect candidate to replace Mary mid season I'd imagine, perfect Dragons footy thinking.

 

[2010Dragons]

I'm now watching the Charity Shield again.

The first 30 minutes we looked good in attack, but took too many high risk final passes hopefully this won't happen in the beginning of the season. I'm happy with our attack we will scores points this year.

The defence line.
The boys were moving quick of the line for the first 31 minutes then continued the slow line speed for the rest of the game. The line speed and defence needs to be fixed.
I think we will be contender if the ruck/middle defence and line speed improves.
If Mary can't fix this simple issue then he needs to quit now.

 

[2010]

Defence was lacking in the backs last season. No change this season.
Forwards last season were awsome. This year with our two forwards leaving it is going to be a test.

 

[kit66]

I think we have all seen the defensive liabilities for two years now.
The question is why hasn't it been fixed.

Aitken gets attacked here for his defence, but he has to defend inside either winger, who have obviously been coached to run in off thier wing. He's never quite sure what his winger is going to do and often gets caught in no mans land.

You could go through the tapes from last year and almost garentee that every game we lost was down to teams going around our wingers, they don't slide, they go up and in and inevitably miss and leave the opposition wingers a clean run to the line.

The two trials this year have exposed our defensive line speed as terrible.

I believe Dean Young is the defensive coach, but he seems to be incapable of accepting there are flaws in his game plans and refuses to change them.......which will make him the perfect candidate to replace Mary mid season I'd imagine, perfect Dragons footy thinking.

It hasn't been fixed because they think they're doing a good job, they must or they'd make changes and re-educate the likes of Aitken and Mcdonald to read the opposition attack better and teach everyone how and when to slide.
We also seem to be one of the very few teams that don't wrestle, either that or our technique sucks. We give our opponents the quickest play the balls in the league I reckon and it's been the same for years. We need a new defensive coach more than we need a head coach.

 

[Saints of George]

I think everyone needs to calm down a bit, in the end of the day the game on Saturday was a glorified trial and when we were on the field at full strength we were very competitive. Nighty keeps his hand off the sideline and we win and also, both trails we've been right in the contest for the full 80 mins. That to me is a very positive sign on the teams mentality.

The sight of Graham, Vaughan, Tyson and De Belin on the bench at the same time is not something we'll not see during the regular season and our middle will not be that open and exposed ever and the sight of that right side in action (Hunt to Dufty to Nighty) is gonna be brilliant to see all year.

My only concern is our left side with Nene. I don't know if it was him standing to far out and flat or if it was Widdop with a bad passing game but every ball that went his way went to ground first and he didn't seem to attack the ball at all. I felt a few scoring opportunities went to waste if he'd gotten to the ball on the full and at full pace. Especially with his size that close to the line. I feel with the right guidance he could be another Wendell type but he seems to hold back a bit to much.

But in saying that, for years we've been blessed with first class centres and wingers to watch, dating back to the days of Ricky Walford/Coyne right up to Gaz, Coops, Blacklock and then Morris. Got to take the rough with the smooth I guess.

 

[Belta]

Saints of George said; "...everyone needs to calm down abit..."

I do like the positiveness of your thread. Its fair to speak of both the good and the bad. You fairly discussed some the good points. It appears our kicking will be better with Hunt also. The bad point you mentioned and your only concern is the left side with Nene. I'd also add recurring issues such as a lack of go forward, stifling our attacking momentum, an inability to come up with the right end of set plays to build pressure and alot of near misses due to us being not as clinical or fluent as the top teams. So I can see and also feel this frustration but let's not lose our heads just yet. We essentially have a good team, they'll face a tough draw and stronger teams than last year but let's try and remain as positive.

 

[muzby]

Saints of George said; "...everyone needs to calm down abit..."

rubbish.

he said " a bit"

don't misquote him.

that breeds distrust.

 

[Saints of George]

We essentially have a good team, they'll face a tough draw and stronger teams than last year but let's try and remain as positive.

Couldn't agree more Belta.

I've always felt that we did all we could to achieve 2010 but didn't really think beyond trying to extend Bennett's contract as the plan going forward, and once that fell through, we've not really recovered.

This years team is damn good! I wish we kept Thompson but even without him our forward pack is the best I've seen in years and for the first time since Matty Head, we actually have a specialist halfback, and an Aussie rep to boot! I do have some reservations over our back 5, I think Dufty will come into his own this year and seems to be enjoying a good combination with Hunt but as I said before, after almost 20 years of being spoilt with first class centres and wingers, this certainly will be an adjustment period. But all in all, I think we'll be a very competitive team this year.

 

[possm]

Couldn't agree more Belta.

I've always felt that we did all we could to achieve 2010 but didn't really think beyond trying to extend Bennett's contract as the plan going forward, and once that fell through, we've not really recovered.

This years team is damn good! I wish we kept Thompson but even without him our forward pack is the best I've seen in years and for the first time since Matty Head, we actually have a specialist halfback, and an Aussie rep to boot! I do have some reservations over our back 5, I think Dufty will come into his own this year and seems to be enjoying a good combination with Hunt but as I said before, after almost 20 years of being spoilt with first class centres and wingers, this certainly will be an adjustment period. But all in all, I think we'll be a very competitive team this year.

The jury is out on our forwards; we still need to see if the loss of Packer and Thompson leaves us with a less effective pack.

No doubt our halves are stronger and just need to form a good combination.

Our backs are the problem. Dufty is still a work in progress and may or may not hold the fullback position. Our current outside backs, Nightingale, Aitken, Lafai and Macdonald lack speed, discipline and defensive skills. In my opinion the only way to solve our right side problems is to replace Nightingale and Aitken with Mann and Lomax. On the left side Lafai needs to be instructed to cut out the flick pass for now and Macdonald needs to drop back to reserve grade until he finds the form expected of him. Maybe it's time to take a chance with Herbert or Field on the left wing. The shame of all of this is that the likes of Nightingale, Aitken and Lafai were all extended last year which in my opinion is a complete waste of salary cap.

 

[Coffs dragon]

The defence out wide is still a massive problem and has never been rectified or altered. Bruce Jenner turns quicker than our plodders.

 

[2010]

A decent coach would lay down the law. If you come off the line and they score then your dropped.

 

[kit66]

A decent coach would lay down the law. If you come off the line and they score then your dropped.

If you play a compressed defence and the opposition swing the ball wide to get around your edges you either have to slide as a team to cover it or sprint up as a team to cut it off. If the team aren't doing either of those "as a team" you're rooted. If you're an edge forward or a centre and you can see the opposition is about to create and overlap and you're inside players aren't sliding or moving up quick enough you have to make the choice in a split second - slide and hope you and your mates can handle a 3 on 2 or sprint up to try to cut off the movement. Watch the Melbourne defence, rarely compresses ( especially in their own red zone ) and everyone knows they can rely on those to their left and right, they never panic.
We shouldn't even be using a compressed defence at all, it goes against all the available evidence we have to make a decision on our defensive structure. Our forwards are strong defensively, no need to compress for their sake - our backs are OK with front on defence but sh*t laterally, compressing only makes them worse and exposes our flanks. I know this, you know this......then why the f....